This site uses only a few technical cookies necessary for its operation. By continuing to browse, you accept their use.
To find out more...
To find out more...
Roasting spices
If you like your food a little, or a lot, spicy, you'll no doubt have a jar or sachets of mixed spices in your cupboards from which to draw when preparing a dish.
I'm thinking, for example, of curries, chili and couscous, all of which fill the kitchen, and sometimes far beyond...
I'm thinking, for example, of curries, chili and couscous, all of which fill the kitchen, and sometimes far beyond...
9,858 4.9/5 (16 reviews)
Keywords for this post:TastesFlavorsSpicesRoastingLast modified on: October 30th 2020
Roasting spices
At some point in the creation of your recipe, you will add the spices of your choice, in proportions to suit your own taste or that of your guests. The question is: when should you add them, is there a better time than another?
In most recipes, spices are added at just about any time, so it doesn't really matter, as the dish usually cooks for a long time and the aromas have plenty of time to develop.
This isn't quite true: in truth, there is an optimum moment, and it's not when the dish is practically finished - quite the contrary.
What we're all trying to achieve is that the spices reveal themselves completely with cooking, especially if they've been in their jars or sachets for (a little too) long, where they've had a chance to "pass through" a little.
The ideal way to cook spices is to roast them, i.e. cook them, almost on their own, to reveal their flavours before putting them in contact with all the other foods.
For the recipes mentioned above, you'll have a meat base that will be cooked for a long time with spices, so here's how to do it:
- To begin with, place the meat, generally cut into pieces, in your saucepan, casserole or stewpot, add a little fat, and brown it, i.e. grill just the surface, over a very high heat.
- Once it's done, it's time to add the spices all at once (the powerful smells will jump out at you, so light your hood if you haven't already), stirring well to coat the meat with them, it's very dry, a little strange, agglomerated, not to worry.
- Then continue as normal, adding the vegetables or kidney beans, water, etc. etc.
It's quite simple, with few constraints, and you'll see that the results are just as good.
To sum up: if you're making a recipe that contains powdered spices, try roasting them and cooking them on their own or with just the meats before continuing with the recipe, as they'll taste much better.
In most recipes, spices are added at just about any time, so it doesn't really matter, as the dish usually cooks for a long time and the aromas have plenty of time to develop.
This isn't quite true: in truth, there is an optimum moment, and it's not when the dish is practically finished - quite the contrary.
What we're all trying to achieve is that the spices reveal themselves completely with cooking, especially if they've been in their jars or sachets for (a little too) long, where they've had a chance to "pass through" a little.
The ideal way to cook spices is to roast them, i.e. cook them, almost on their own, to reveal their flavours before putting them in contact with all the other foods.
For the recipes mentioned above, you'll have a meat base that will be cooked for a long time with spices, so here's how to do it:
- To begin with, place the meat, generally cut into pieces, in your saucepan, casserole or stewpot, add a little fat, and brown it, i.e. grill just the surface, over a very high heat.
- Once it's done, it's time to add the spices all at once (the powerful smells will jump out at you, so light your hood if you haven't already), stirring well to coat the meat with them, it's very dry, a little strange, agglomerated, not to worry.
- Then continue as normal, adding the vegetables or kidney beans, water, etc. etc.
It's quite simple, with few constraints, and you'll see that the results are just as good.
To sum up: if you're making a recipe that contains powdered spices, try roasting them and cooking them on their own or with just the meats before continuing with the recipe, as they'll taste much better.
Lasts posts
Butter vs. grease
We often read in a recipe where a pastry is put into a mould that, just before pouring, the mould should be buttered or greased. But what's the difference between these 2 terms?December 1st 20251,2485
Getting out of the fridge early
Very often when you're cooking, you need to take food or preparations out of the fridge, to use them in the recipe in progress. There's nothing tricky about this: you just take them out of the fridge and use them, usually immediately, in the recipe. But is this really a good method?November 24th 20251,2245
Who's making the croissants?
When you look at a bakery from the outside, you naturally think that in the bakery, the bakers make the bread, and in the laboratory, the pastry chefs make the cakes. It's very often like that, with each of these professions having quite different ways of working, but sometimes there's also one...November 23th 20251,110
Oven height
When we put a dish or cake in the oven, we naturally tend to put it on the middle shelf, and that's what we usually do. But in some cases, this position and height can be a little tricky, so let's find out why.October 8th 20253,0475
The importance of sieving
In recipes that use a fine powder (flour, powdered sugar, etc.), you'll often see the advice to sift before using it. To sift is to pass the powder in question through a sieve (a very fine strainer) before incorporating it into your recipe. It's often advice, but is it really useful?September 3rd 20257,7363
Other pages you may also like
The beautiful story of the croissants
As you may have already noticed, cooking, baking and pastry-making are full of stories or legends, usually very romantic, about this or that product or recipe. This is often the case for named recipes, for example tarte tatin, peach melba, paris-brest and many others, but it also applies to very...October 10th 201820 K5
85 grams of eggs?
Some time ago, I already spoke to you about the difference between baking and pastry-making, I emphasized, among other things, the precision of pastry-making which requires grams, cm, degrees and minutes. That's why, on the one hand, you have baking and cooking, where a certain tolerance is...November 26th 201857 K4.6
The baker always gild twice
I've already told you about gilding, the beaten whole egg that is spread with a brush on anything that needs to brown in the oven: puff pastry, pastries, etc. and that professionals use a lot, I'm going to come back to this to clarify a bit how to do it, and give you a professional tip.June 9th 201935 K4.2
The 3 kinds of meringue
Meringue – what could be simpler? Just beaten egg whites with sugar added. This makes a fairly stiff mixture which can then be cooked in a cool oven to create those lovely, light confections. But in the world of professional patisserie, meringue comes in three different kinds. Even if the...June 14th 201365 K4.5
Candied fruits: don't get ripped off
Do you like candied fruit? You might like to nibble a handful or add it to a recipe, like a classic fruit cake or delicious Italian specialities like panettone or sicilian epiphany pie.June 21th 201767 K 24.2
Post a comment or question
Follow this page
If you are interested in this page, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the page is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.